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A few thousand people rallied in Kraljevo, central Serbia, on Sunday, a day after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would step down within "weeks" following more than a year of student-led protests.
Student-led anti-corruption protests have rocked Serbia since 16 people were killed in the November 2024 collapse of a railway station in Novi Sad. Initial calls for a transparent investigation have since grown into demands for early elections.
Protesters in Kraljevo did not directly address Vucic's remarks but said their movement would continue.
"Freedom is near," Nemanja Karovic, a Belgrade professor who supports the movement, told the crowd from a stage in the main square. "The students are winning," he added.
"I am a student, not an enemy of the state," Lazar Stevanovic, a student at the Faculty of Agriculture, told the rally.
Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade, has repeatedly accused protesters of being "foreign agents" seeking to overthrow the government and has rejected calls for early elections.
"I will be president for just a few more weeks, then I will resign," Vucic said Saturday, without giving further details or setting a date for possible elections.
Speaking at the "Serbia – One Family" rally outside the Serbian parliament in Belgrade, Vucic said he would step down about a year before the end of his mandate.
"I will only be president for a few more weeks, then I will resign. Nothing lasts forever, and thank God it doesn't," he said.
According to Serbia's Interior Ministry, more than 200,000 people attended the "Serbia – One Family" rally.
Vucic said he had told the leadership of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party that, if requested, he would help the party win public support in upcoming elections so it could implement its plans over the next four years.
He also proposed naming the party's electoral list "United Serbia."
"My proposal is that our list, the winning list in the upcoming elections, be called 'United Serbia.' Not 'United for Something,' but 'United Serbia.' That is the most beautiful slogan we can have," he said.
Vucic also announced that the government would unveil new measures Monday, including financial support for pensioners.
Most speeches at the Kraljevo rally centered on Serbia's relations with Kosovo, its former province, which declared independence in 2008 in a move Belgrade refuses to recognize.
Students and professors from Kosovo also took part in the protest, highlighting what they described as the difficult position of Kosovo's Serb minority and saying they were "victims of policies" in both Belgrade and Pristina.
Vucic, meanwhile, reiterated Serbia's longstanding position that Kosovo's status is not open to negotiation.
"We have always been ready to discuss everything, but we will not negotiate whose territory Kosovo and Metohija is. We know what is written in Serbia's Constitution, and we will always adhere to it," he said.
Vucic said Serbia must preserve its military neutrality and continue making independent decisions while pursuing European Union membership and maintaining traditional ties with China and Russia.
"We want to protect and defend our own skies, not have them protected by a foreign army. We must always take pride in our air force, our air defense, our military and our police. That is freedom," he said.
He said Serbia would accelerate its European integration while preserving long-standing partnerships with China and Russia.
The Kraljevo rally was held as temperatures topped 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 Fahrenheit, levels classified as "dangerous" by Serbia's public health institute. Red warnings were in place in parts of the Balkan country.
Water and medical aid points were set up around the protest area.
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